


Proposing Alternatives

by dietcokeenthusiast



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Hair Braiding, Love Confessions, Post-Time Skip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-15
Updated: 2019-08-15
Packaged: 2020-09-01 18:28:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20262562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dietcokeenthusiast/pseuds/dietcokeenthusiast
Summary: During a hair braiding session, Petra asks Dorothea why she only seems to pursue a husband when her interests extend to women as well. She then encourages her to consider her alternatives.





	Proposing Alternatives

“Dorothea, I am having a question on my mind. Do I have your permission to be asking it?”

“Hm? Of course, Petra, what is it?”

“Well,” Petra began, her fingers never once slipping in her work of braiding Dorothea’s hair. “You know that you are always seeking the husband, yes?”

“Right, I am. Why? Have you run into anyone? Think you could set the two of us up? Or even just a little introduction. I can handle the rest.” Dorothea giggled a bit. Somehow, even something so simple sounded musical when coming from her.

“I have not been meeting with any such men. I have regret if I have given the wrong ideas.” She tied off one braid and then started on the next. She was always impressed with how nice Dorothea’s hair was to work with. She also quite enjoyed the lovely floral scent it always seemed to have. “But you are also a lover of women, yes?”

Dorothea just giggled at the question. “Well, yes! It seems like a waste to limit yourself when there’s so many gorgeous people out there, you know?”

“I am seeing,” Petra replied. She felt her own fingers growing just the slightest bit clumsier, making small mistakes that years of practice should have long since corrected. “So this is my question. Why are you only pursuing a husband, but not a wife? Are such relationships considered poorly in Fodlan?”

“What? No, not at all! No one really makes that big a deal of that in Fodlan. I mean, you love who you love, right?”

“Yes,” Petra replied. “So if there are no bad thoughts of such relationships, and you are loving men and women, why only look for a husband? I do not mean to give offence, but I am just having curiosity.”

“Oh, no offence taken, Petra! You’re too sweet for me to be offended by.”

Petra felt her cheeks get a bit warmer at that. “I... that is good.”

“As for your question, well, some of it is just playing the odds. Most noblewomen prefer men, most noblemen prefer women, so if I want to marry rich, then it just makes sense, right? The other big reason is- ow!” Dorothea looked back behind her at Petra. “I think you might have pulled a little bit too tight.”

“Oh! I am having regret!” Petra’s cheeks got a little bit redder. “I will be more gentle moving forward.”

“It’s okay, really!” Dorothea smiled. “The other big reason is just that nobles are obsessed with crests.You pretty much need one to inherit as a noble, and if you don’t have one you might as well be trash to most of them. So, they want children who are more likely to have crests. That means ‘trueborn heirs,’” she rolled her eyes as she said it, and made air quotes, “and well, let’s just say that’s a lot more difficult with two women involved.”

“I have understanding,” Petra nodded.”It is no wonder Edelgard has hatred for the crests.” She tied off another braid, running her fingers through Dorothea’s hair without quite realizing what she was doing. It felt like silk against her fingers. “Are  _ you _ desiring children?”

If Dorothea objected to Petra playing with her hair, she gave no outward sign of it. “I think I’d like that,” Dorothea replied, the smile clear in her voice. “I worry if I’d be the best mom, but it’d be nice to help a kid have a better life than I’ve had, you know? Even if I’d hate to have to deal with the crest system, at least they’d be taken care of. They’d have a better life than I had as a kid, anyways. I think as long as I knew I was doing something good for them, it would be good.” Dorothea then fell quiet for a moment, turning around to face Petra. “Of course, if I’m being honest… it’s still kind of selfish. My main reason for doing it is still me.”

Petra nodded. “You are meaning wanting to be taken care of.”

“Right. I mean, I’m certain once the war is over we’ll all be heroes, and then I’ll definitely have the money from the hit opera I’ll compose,” she said with a wink to Petra. “Even that won’t last forever, though. I don’t have generations of wealth to fall back on, so I need to be thinking about the future.”

Petra smiled warmly at Dorothea. “That is one of the reasons I am having great admiration for you, Dorothea. Your thinking is not just of today, but many tomorrows away as well. Too many are seeing only what is right in front of their eyes. In Brigid, we make decisions so that we are having the good life, but that generations from now are also having the good life. Even though you are saying your thoughts are for you, they are also for children maybe you will have.”

Dorothea smiled at Petra. She often had a smile on her face, though it was mostly for the sake of pleasantries. When he smiled warmly and genuinely as she was doing now, though, it was enough to make Petra’s heart skip a beat. It was the sort of smile Petra could spend hours looking at, had she the opportunity. “Petra… this is why I love being around you. So many people think what I want is pathetic, or shallow, but you understand me. Like now, you saw the best in me, even if I wasn’t seeing it myself.” Petra’s heart skipped another beat when Dorothea placed her hand over her own. “So thank you.”

She could feel a faint heat in her cheeks as she spoke again. “I have gladness that I am able to give you this comfort, Dorothea. I… I am hoping to continue to be able to provide it. If it is okay with you.” She returned Dororhea’s smile, leaning in just a bit.

“Oh, Petra… of course. I have the feeling we’re going to be friends forever!” She gave Petra’s wrist a little squeeze.

Petra smiled and nodded. It seemed Dorothea wasn’t entirely understanding what she was trying to say. She was certain she had read somewhere that Fodlanians preferred subtlety when indicating interest in the. Perhaps this situation just needed a different, yet still subtle approach. “Dorothea, I would like to make a return to my earlier question. You are thinking a nobleman will be most desiring of a woman. But what if in your searching you were encountering a woman who wished to give you whatever you were wishing for?”

“Why, do you know someone?” Dorothea winked. “It’s funny you mention that! I’ve thought about Edie a couple of times, but she seems a bit more taken with a certain former professor. I mean, who can blame her though, right?”

Petra continued to smile and nod politely. Perhaps just a bit less subtlety was called for. “Perhaps this woman is not a noble in Fodlan.” She smiled a bit wider, and looked up at Dorothea expectantly. “What if she was hailing from a different place?”

Dorothea just giggled. “Oh, Petra! Somehow I’m the one who’s been in all the operas about impossible love stories and finding hope in faraway lands, but you’re the one who’s taken it too much to heart! Really, cute as it is, it isn’t going to happen. It’s not like some beautiful foreigner just waltzes in and sweeps a common girl off her feet. Not when they have all the nobility to have their pick of.”

Petra’s polite smile was getting increasingly forced. It wasn’t possible that Dorothea could be quite this clueless, right? “Well, we are followers of our hearts in Brigid. Once I am becoming leader and making us more equal with Fodlan, I am sure it will be only a matter of time before there is love and marrying between our people, without concern paid to titles.”

“Well, when that happens, put in a good word for me? If all people from Brigid are as gorgeous as you, I think I’d like that.” Dorothea gave her a wink.

Petra sighed in exasperation. Indeed, it appeared Dorothea truly was that clueless. “Dorothea, I am saying to you that I have an interest in you!”

“I know, Petra! I don’t think you’d have hung around this long if you didn’t find me interesting.”

Petra threw up her hands, and decided right then and there that subtlety was absolutely of the question. Even though her cheeks began to burn before she opened her mouth to speak. “I am having a romantic interest in you, Dorothea! The woman from Brigid I was speaking of who is wanting to take care of you is myself!” She sighed. “Why are you thinking I am asking you to come back to Brigid with me after the war?”

Dorothea could only blink for a few moments, all the while her cheeks grew redder and redder. “Petra… I…”

Petra looked down at her hands. “It is why I am asking you why you were only pursuing a man. I was wanting to see if you were having interest in such a relationship with me.”

Petra felt a hand on her shoulder, and looked up. Leaning in close, face just inches away, was Dorothea. She wore one of those beautiful genuine smiles on her perfectly painted lips. “Petra, I didn’t think you would ever feel that way about me... I hate to keep saying it, but common girls like me don’t get the fairy tale ending, usually. We either get a bad one, or we make do with one that’s tolerable. You… you could have anyone you wanted, Petra. You’re beautiful, strong and brave. There’s no reason for you to settle for a girl like me.”

“I am not doing any settling, Dorothea,” Petra replied. She was quick to speak again, not giving Dorothea any chance to object. “I am meaning everything that I am saying to you before, about how you are thinking about tomorrows as well as today. This is not all I am admiring, though. I am admiring that even in war, you are keeping your kindness to others. I am admiring how you seek things to be better for you, and your friends. I admit that I am admiring your voice and your appearance, but I am also made happy by the thought of how they might be years from now, and the thought I may get to see, so long as it is you.” She leaned in a little bit closer. “I am not wanting anyone, I am wanting the one that I love, Dorothea. You.”

Dorothea’s eyes began to well up, and she clasped her hand over her mouth. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?” She asked, voice beginning to crack.

Petra nodded. “Yes, I am lo-” she paused to correct herself. “I mean, I love you, Dorothea.”

“Oh Petra… I love you too!” She giggled, tears streaming down her face. “Oh, it’s so very sweet to say that to you… come here!”

Petra immediately felt Dorothea drape her arms around her neck, and pull her in for a kiss. It was unlike anything she had ever felt before in her life. She had some cursory experience with kissing, back in Brigid with childhood crushes. Where those were clumsy and awkward, however, this one was absolutely intoxicating. The way she moved her lips just so, and the way Dorothea’s tongue slid so effortlessly between her lips and brushed against her own was enough to make Petra moan softly against Dorothea’s lips. Petra placed one hand on Dorothea’s shoulder and the other on the small of her back, urging her closer with a gentle tug. Dorothea’s warmth and closeness was an all too happy reminder that her feelings were indeed reciprocated.

Petra was just the littlest bit short of breath when she pulled away, but was grinning ear to ear. Dorothea’s eyes were still full of her tears, her eyeliner starting to run and her lipstick slightly smeared. Still, she wore the same smile on her own face, her eyes never leaving Petra’s.

“Is it going to be too much if I am telling you that I love you, again?” Petra asked.

Dorothea sniffled, and shook her head. “No… it’s never going to be too much.”

Petra giggled, and reached a hand up to begin wiping away Dorothea’s tears. “Then, I love you.”

“I love you too,” Dorothea replied, voice still choked with emotion.

Petra sighed happily. “I have gratitude… and hope. Much hope. Her hands then drifted to Dorothea’s hair. “I am remembering that I still have to finish braiding your hair.”

“O-oh! Right…” Dorothea giggled.

“I am hoping we may do more kissing once we are finished, though! If you are okay with it.”

“Oh, darling… I’m more than okay with it.” She wiped away the last of her tears. “As a matter of fact, I want you to hurry up and finish with my hair. It’s not nice to keep a girl waiting, you know.”

Petra laughed, and motoned for Dorothea to turn around. Once she did, before she resumed her work, she began hugging her from behind. She could feel a very welcome warmth in her chest as Dorothea leaned back against her. “I will proceed hastily, then.”

Petra would finish braiding the fastest she ever had in her life.


End file.
